All-terrain vehicles have recently become popular with sports enthusiasts as a means of traversing a variety of terrain (i.e., so-called "off-road" conditions). Particularly, hunters and outdoorsmen have found ATV's to be especially well suited to carry them between a base camp and remote hunting sites. While ATV's are useful to enable such persons to traverse a variety of terrain, they are not equipped for all-weather conditions--i.e., since a weather-protective top cover is not present. The absence of such a top cover is probably due to the ATV's lack of a front windscreen and its associated fame which provides necessary front support for most conventional convertible tops.
It would therefore be desirable if conventional ATV's could easily be retro-fitted (or supplied by the original equipment manufacturers as an option, for example) with a removable top cover so as to protect the operator from inclement weather conditions. It is towards providing such a top cover that the present invention is directed.
According to the present invention, a top cover assembly for ATV's is provided which does not necessarily require a rigid frame associated with a front windscreen in order to properly maintain the top in an erected condition and/or to provide support for the top. Instead, the top of this invention maintains tension on the fabric top component via a pair of upright support bows positioned near a rear end of the vehicle. These upright support bows will, in use, flex towards one another when the top is installed. The tendency of these upright support bows to return to their normal condition (i.e., their tendency to flex outwardly from one another) thereby serves to maintain tension of the fabric top component without the need for any forward support (as is usually required for conventional convertible tops).
A front windscreen may also be provided by a transparent resin film which hangs from the forward edge of the fabric top component. Thus, the removable top assembly of this invention may nonetheless be provided with an integral windscreen even though the top component does not itself necessarily depend upon any rigid windscreen frame associated with the vehicle for purposes of support.
These, and other, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments.